As president of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, Gonzalez helped to install rank-choice voting and raise the San Francisco minimum wage.

In 2003, he ran for San Francisco mayor in a controversial election, just barely losing to Gavin Newsom- The Commonwealth Club of California

Matt Gonzalez

Matt Gonzalez was born in McAllen, Texas in 1965. He received a BA degree from Columbia College, Columbia University, 1987, and a JD from Stanford Law School in 1990. He worked as a deputy public defender in San Francisco from 1991-2000. In 2000 he was elected to the 11-member San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which supervises a city with a budget of $6 billion.
He is best known for having led the effort to implement Instant Run-off Voting, also known as Rank Choice Voting, in San Francisco, where it has been successfully implemented to obtain a majority outcome without the need for costly run-off elections. Matt Gonzalez is a 2008 Vice Presidential Candidate running with Ralph Nader.

2008 Vice-Presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez discusses the impact of the Taft-Hartley Act, the capitulation and accommodation of two-party politics, and the power of labor abroad. Gonzalez expresses his dissatisfaction with the rhetoric of the current presidential campaign, and with the limits on labor's power in this country, which he worries has allowed the Republican party to hold power.

2008 Vice-Presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez examines the revolutionary progress of historical third parties. Gonzalez explains that third parties have been responsible for some of the most significant accomplishments in this country's history, including the end of slavery and women's suffrage. He also describes his vision for a government that allows for more political parties without taking away the people's ability to vote for the president.

2008 Vice-Presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez dissects the partisan promises of candidates to end the Iraq War. Gonzalez also discusses the reality of U.S. military presence throughout the world, especially in past areas of conflict.